Profile

Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer currently dividing his time between Tokyo, Japan and New York City, United States. He is best known for his highly stylized photographic series of seascapes, movie theaters, natural history dioramas, waxworks and Buddhist sculptures. These series delve into fundamental questions about the relationship of photography and time, as well as exploring the nature of reality


Hiroshi Sugimoto has defined what it means to be a multi-disciplined contemporary artist, blurring the lines between photography, painting, installation, and most recently, architecture. His iconic photographs have bridged Eastern and Western ideologies, tracing the origins of time and societal progress along the way. Preserving and picturing memory and time is a central theme of Sugimoto’s photography, including the ongoing series Dioramas (1976– ), Theaters (1978– ), and Seascapes (1980– ). His work is held in numerous public collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; The National Gallery, London; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Smithsonian Institute of Art, Washington, D.C., and Tate, London, among others.



Dates

Born 1948, Tokyo,

Lives and works in New York



Education

1970, Saint Paul’s University, Tokyo

1974, ArtCenterCollege of Design, Los Angeles


Recent Solo Exhibition

2014

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Past Tense, The Getty Center, Los Angeles, February 4–June 8, 2014.


2013

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, December 5, 2013–March 23, 2014.


Hiroshi Sugimoto, Boucheron, Place Vendôme, Paris, October 15–25, 2013.

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Accelerated Buddha, Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, October 10, 2013–January 26, 2014. (Catalogue)

2012

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Revolution, Brandhorst Museum, Munich, October 25, 2012–February 10, 2013. Traveled to: Les Rencontres d’Arles Photographie, Espace Van Gogh, Arles, France, July 1–September 22, 2013. (Catalogue)


Hiroshi Sugimoto: Henry VIII and his Six Wives, Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, July 20–October 31, 2012.

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Colueurs de l’ombre, Museum der Kulturen, Basel, June 12–21, 2012. Traveled to: La Verrière Hermès, Brussels, September 10–29, 2012; Maison Hermès (Le Forum), Tokyo, November 15–December 31, 2012; Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI), January 23–March 2, 2013.

Hiroshi Sugimoto, The Pace Gallery, Beijing, May 12–July 7, 2012.

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Five Elements, Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, April 3–June 23, 2012.

Hiroshi Sugimoto: From Naked to Clothed, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, March 31–July 1, 2012.

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Photogenic Drawings, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, January 5–February 25, 2012.